Thursday, September 2, 2010

Mariska Hargitay Upgrades in the Hamptons

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: With the summer coming to a close–and Hurricane Earl bearing down on the east coast–we thought we'd take a virtual stroll out to the hoity-toity and celebrity packed Hamptons, that glittering string of über upscale communities that dot the beachy and bucolic landscape at the far eastern end of the south fork of Long Island.

In early July of 2010 it was reported that the Emmy winning Law & Orderhottie-mommy Mariska Hargitay and her actor huzband Peter Hermann upgraded their East Hampton digs from a modest 2,554 square foot house on East Hampton's Buell Lane to an historic and rambling shingle-sided farmhouse in the same posh part of town as the summertime spreads of Martha Stewart, Mort Zuckerman, and Jerry dellaFemina. The property is, as it turns out, also just around the corner from the very English-y Coxwould estate–listed for a bone breaking $425,000 for the 2010 summer season–that the KabbalahKween is rumored and reported to have leased for the summer because the $10,000,000 horse farm that she bought in late 2009 from Kelly Klein does not, alas, have a house on the property.

Blame it on the booze butter beans, but Your Mama quickly forgot about Mister and and Missus Hargitay's new house in the Hamp-toons until recently when we were clued in by the bizzy boys at Celebrity Address Aerial who whispered in Your Mama's big ol' ear that the Hargitay-Hermanns scooped up a 3-story house in East Hampton–purchased through a trust–in late June 2010 for $7,340,000.

Listing information shows the disheveled and slightly raggedly old-school Hamptons "cottage"–built way back 1890–sits on a 1.14 acre parcel and measures approximately 7,000 square feet with a staggering 11 bedrooms and 6.6 poopers. We're not exactly sure what a .6 pooper is but that, puppies, is what the listing says.

A gravel driveway sweeps across the yard to the house where a charming and deep covered porch spans the width of the front facade. There's little Your Mama enjoys more than whittling a summer day away on a shaded porch near the beach with a big stack of tabs, a giant pitcher of gin & tonics, and a big bag of candy. Yes, we're a damn fool for candy. It's a bad habit Sister Woman hates–she's in the teeth bizness–but one we can not seem to break.

Anyhoo, according to listing information, the interior spaces include a trio of parlors with wood floors distressed by age, a dining room, window wrapped sun room, and a huge, funky eat-in kitchen with a turqwaze and black tile pattern painted on to the wood floor. The laminate counter tops have an unfortunate swirly, cream and rose colored pattern, the beat up cabinetry that is supposed to look old and charming just looks to Your Mama like it's seen its better days, the Sub-Zero fridge has a chalk-board front, and above the commercial style range hangs, we are mortified to see, a pot rack that looks all kinds of hungry to clank some unsuspecting water boiler on the damn head.

Presumably, many if not most of the cottage/mansion's 11 bedrooms are situated on the second floor. Also on the second floor is a huge deck, part of which is covered, that overlooks the back yard. Another long deck runs along one side of the main floor at the back of the house and steps down the in ground heated swimming pool that too is surrounded by decking.

Even more deckingwraps around a small blue wooden building–let's call it a quaint little pool house with French doors and 9-over-1 panel sash windows–and around to where a very 1970s looking round hot tub has been sunk into the deck. The grounds also include wide swathes of lawn, mature plantings and shade trees, a guest house and a recording studio.

The unassuming, quirky, and unpretentious property–if anything in the Hamptons that cost more than seven million clams can be considered unpretentious–was sold by a British born but New York City based fashion designer and her rock and roll drummer huzband. While we always appreciate a home that genuinely looks and feels of its owner–and we do appreciate that this house does look and feel of its former owner–we don't care for the particulars, in this case a wildly eclectic hippy-dippy beach house meets Shabby Chic meets English country house meets city sophisticate day-core. However, it's really of no use speaking on it because Your Mama has to (hope, pray and) assume that the Hargitay-Hermanns have brought or will bring in their own nice, gay decorator and maybe even a smart architect to put their own spin on the interior spaces.

The real estate whereabouts of MizHargitay and Mister Hermann are oft reported on and speculated about. We're not sure how much light we can throw down on the matter but here's what Your Mama knows.

In October of 2007, MizHargitay and Mister Hermann unloaded their 2,500 square foot Jeffrey Bilhuber designed TriBeCa penthouse at 19 Beach Street for $5,100,000 and quickly laid out $7,000,000 for a 4,817 square foot penthouse pad in the then newly converted O'Neill Building on bizzy, wide, and loud Sixth Avenue in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood.

Eight or so months later, after learning their toddler got into a swank school on the Upper East Side, the peripatetic pair hoisted the 3 bedroom and 3.5 pooperdoo-plex digs at the O'Neill Building back on the market with an asking price of $8,250,000. A few months later, in October of 2008, just one year after moving in, the Hargitay's packed their bags, strapped their baby on their back, and moved back out having sold their corner unit aerie for $8,150,000 to a New York City property mogul.

There was chatter among the celebrity real estate gossips back at that time that the Hargitay-Hermanns were either looking to move uptown–closer to their tykes pricey institution of learning–or to one of the leafy and expensive enclaves in Westchester County just to the north of New York City. Honestly bunnies, we don't have a clue where the Hargitay-Hermanns went but iffin Chelsea was too far for their child to commute to toddler school, then Westchester County might as well be the damn moon, you know?

17 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Mama, usually when a realtor puts the bathroom count at something like "6.6" bathrooms it would mean 6 full baths and 6 half baths. I've also seen situations where it would be displayed "6.555555" but that's much more rare. The only exception to this rule is that 6.1 baths would be equivalent to 6.5 baths, they're interchangeable.

I love me some Mariska Hargitay, but why she and her hot hubby feel the need to constantly upgrade their digs (and mortgage payments) puzzles me. Then again, the four-footed posse and I can't afford to hire hunky movers, and my nice gay friends double as my nice gay decorators.

Another Sotheby's agent, not her agent, who had the listing for another house in the village that she came back to look at several times, said she decided to go with this one because the renovation costs would be less. The figure I heard was around 1m . . . I would say double or triple that would be about right. Apparently she brought a large posse when house hunting (at least if she was seriously interested in the place).This house has not been well cared for outside. Actually when I drove in the driveway this spring it really seemed like it had been deserted for some time. Indeed, it had been on the market for several years, and I'm not clear what the previous owner's intentions were. Very modest place for this Lily Pond Lane adjacent neighborhood, and very run down. There was literally one of those storage sheds that you buy at Home Depot in the back yard.

I am also curious as to where they decamped after unloading (at a loss) the O'Neil Building penthouse. That seems to have been a huge mistake for them; really, I would think, just because of the very specific location on the corner of Sixth Ave. and 19th St. Street level is really not good there: very busy and commercial. But who knows what their reason was.Also, so many rumors about Mariska's sexual orientation. What's behind that? Most likely, she had a relationship with a woman at some point in the past, so now forever her relationship with her husband will be questioned. That's usually the way it goes down,

This confusing day-core mess looks like it could have been decorated by her parents. Anyone remember the horrible decoration of their pink stucco house on Sunset Blvd? Hopefully, the SUPER ELEGANT Mariska will quickly hire a good team of nice gay decorators.

She needs a serious architect to come in here and straighten things out before the nice gay deocorator (Mr. Bilhuber) can even begin to work his magic. (That is, unless they've had a falling out. . . some people get upset with the overcharges.)

From the air, this "Lily Pond Road" adjacent farmhouse is one of the rarer examples of how these houses have been added onto, sometimes sensitively, sometimes not, over the years. For the Hamptons, this adds a certain cachet that many find worth the extra bucks.

It does have lovely character and I'd kill to see the floor plans; regardless of their real estate/financial situation, it does seem easier to justify spending possibly millions to renovate this gem. Its provenance & location make it a little less difficult to choke on whilst trying to swallow...

Mama, why no names on the former owners? Am I the only one curious as to who the "British born but New York City based fashion designer and her rock and roll drummer huzband" actually are? Why tease us like that and then not follow through?

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post this link to an update of the Huguette Clark story. I would like to thank Your Mama for posting a link to this story initially. It really is a fascinating story and kind of sad. I hope that this, apparently very private woman, has led a joyful life in spite of what has been recently written about her.

I can't imagine having access to such wealth and being such a recluse. But that is just a rumor. I am by NO means saying that she should have "Paris Hiltoned" it up all of her life. Nope, not saying that at all. Especially after Miz Hilton's unfortunate incarceration last Friday in "lost wages" for "allegedly" possessing the white stuff. And I ain't talkin about snow....well not the kinda snow you find on the streets of NYC in the dead of winter. But from what I have read it doesn't seem like Ms. Clark, for some reason or another, enjoyed the tremendous gift that her enormous wealth brought her. I hope that is not true.

I certainly hope that she enjoyed her life to the fullest. And I hope beyond hope that she is not being taken advantaged of by those closest to her as is alleged in the following link....http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38965512/ns/business-clark/

Shout out to Your Mama....Thank you for blessing us with your fabulous, beyond hilarious and very interesting blogs on the real estate doings of the rich and famous! Luv it!